The rush to green energy by spending billions covering much of the countryside with wind turbines would be an expensive blunder, a damning study has found. Professor Gordon Hughes of Edinburgh University said the massive programme will cost consumers £120billion by 2020 through higher bills. This is almost ten times more than the £13billion it would cost to generate the same amount of electricity from efficient gas-fired power stations, according to the leading energy and environment economist. Supporters of wind power insist the key benefit is that it allows a huge reduction in CO2 emissions, in line with EU obligations. This is challenged in the study, which suggests the switch to wind will actually deliver only a tiny reduction. --Sean Poulter, Daily Mail, 7 March 2012
